Capricornhole One

Now I’m all for academic freedom… indeed I rely on it and have been fortunate that all of my employers have taken it seriously. But there comes a time — a rare time — when ideas are so stupid or beyond the bounds of reason that I might countenance a professor being fired for his personal beliefs. This — involving comments by Florida Atlantic University professor James Tracy — would be one of those times.

“James Tracy does not speak for the university,” Lisa Metcalf, FAU’s director of media relations, told FoxNews.com in an email. “The website on which his post appeared is not affiliated with FAU in any way. As for any previous disciplinary actions at FAU, we do not comment on personnel matters.”

“While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place — at least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation’s news media have described.”

In a posting titled “The Sandy Hook Massacre: Unanswered Questions and Missing Information,” Tracy questioned how Adam Lanza was able to fire off so many shots in such little time and noted a lack of surveillance video or still images from the gruesome crime scene.

“Inconsistencies and anomalies abound when one turns an analytical eye to news of the Newtown school massacre,” Tracy, 47, wrote. “While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place — at least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation’s news media have described.”

Pressed by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Tracy acknowledged that “one is left with the impression that a real tragedy took place,” but suggested the Dec. 14 massacre was some sort of staged event.

“Was this to a certain degree constructed?” he asked. “Was this a drill?”

The remarks, needless to say, have caused outrage in Newtown.

“It is outrageous and an insult to all caring people to think that this man would chose this event as a stage for his outlandish conspiracy theories,” Newtown First Selectman E Patricia Llodra told FoxNews.com.

7 comments to Capricornhole One

I went on Drudge today at school (they haven’t banned that site, but they banned this one, thanks to me) and read this. In the wake of that horrific tragedy, and recently finding my classroom window being shot through during the Christmas break, I can’t fathom this professor’s idiocy. It’s one thing to question and suspect one’s government of conspiratorial activities, but when something like this happens to primary school kids … that’s just an evil mind at work that entertains that it didn’t happen at all.